Sony has officially released the XA2 Plus smartphone today with a 6-inch Full HD+ resolution. The release is quite a surprise considering the Japanese company unveiled the XA2 Ultra recently and specification wise both the phones are not that different. The XA2 Plus has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 chipset paired with memory options of 4/6 GB RAM. Storage options vary as well, with options lying between 32/64 GB. Additionally, the phone has SD Card support for cards of up to 400 GB. The 6” display runs at a resolution of 1080×2160 pixels and has an aspect ratio of 2:1.
Coming to optics, the phone has a single-lens camera on the back with a resolution of 23 MP. The back camera has an aperture of f/2.0, which is marginally high relative to most smartphones being launched nowadays. A high aperture means bad low-light images but Sony has apparently tackled that issue with their Low-light photo technology which enables the camera to capture images on an ISO rate of up to 12800.
On the front, the phone boasts an 8-MP wide-angle shooter. Special emphasis is placed on the “wide-angle” by Sony as it enables users to take photos ranging up to 120°. While the front camera carries the Low-light technology as well, its high aperture rate of f/2.4 makes me skeptical about getting good results from the camera during nighttime. Other than that, the camera sports support for features like the bokeh effect as well.
On the software front, the phone runs Android Oreo 8.1. Powering all these features is the phone’s 3850 mAh battery which comes with support for Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 feature through a USB Type-C port. The XA2 Plus will come in both single-sim and dual-sim variants.
The major difference between the XA2 Plus and the XA2 (which launched at the start of this year) is the addition of Sony’s widely acclaimed High-Resolution Audio support along with the addition of LDAC technology paired with a SmartAmplifier.
The LDAC tech uses the XA2 Plus’ Bluetooth 5.0 technology to enhance sound quality when you play music wirelessly while the SmartAmplifier balances out all the notes so that you can hear what you want to, when you want to.
Sony is considered an underdog in the smartphone market due to their primary focus on consumer products and home electronics. But for a second, consider this phone: 6 GB RAM, HD+ display, all for a mid-range priced phone; is Sony actually bad or?…
